Wednesday, March 21, 2012

2.62

I am certain you have seen these stickers on peoples cars. It indicates they have completed a marathon. Running 26.2 miles is quite the accomplishment and they have earned bragging rights as far as I am concerned.

I just went on a fabulous cruise with my parents, siblings/spouses. It was so fun, but the best part was being together. One day my brother pulled out his 26.2 sticker which he has earned by running a marathon, but he also pulled out a sticker he had altered that said 2.62. His lesson in all of this was to strive for our best no matter what that might be. For some of us, 26.2 is our goal, but for some 2.62 is what we can do right now.

For me to run 2.62 miles would be AWESOME and would feel like a huge accomplishment. 26.2 is absolutely out of my reach currently. I am proud of myself for working hard over the last couple of months. I can now run over a mile without stopping, that is huge considering when I started I couldn't run a block. My goal is to run a 5K, but 2.62 sounds pretty great too.

A blog post I read today really struck me. You can find it here. It talks about being enough. That we need to strive for our personal best, but not compare ourselves to others. We need to realize when we are doing our best and not beat ourselves up when we aren't perfect.

I work hard on keeping a clean house. But it never is. I could walk into other's clean homes and feel bad about myself for having a cluttered home. But I choose not too. I work hard at it, I do my best and it is good enough.

I could feel bad about all my friends who literally run miles around me, but I choose not too because I am working my hardest and I have improved greatly from where I was.

When we compare ourselves to others, or when we don't give ourselves credit for what we are doing well and what we have improved upon we rob ourselves of JOY. Feeling badly about ourselves, feeling guilt and never giving ourselves the benefit of the doubt rob us of true happiness.

What are you doing well? What have you improved upon?


5 comments:

Kathleen said...

You are so right! We all tend to be too hard on ourselves. Good luck with the running. I did the Couch to 5K program last year and was thrilled to finish second to last....the key word being "finish".

Nycole said...

I really liked your post. It's a constant battle not to compare ourselves to others (well at least for me). I would love to be able to run 2.62 miles too. Everybody is doing the best they can with what they have :)

Wendi said...

Congratulations on being able to run over a mile! That is a major accomplishment. I agree that we're all on our own journey and it doesn't make sense to compare our situation to someone else's. I've been to church 49 weeks in a row and have attended the temple 26 weeks in a row. And another thing I've improved on is that I've flossed my teeth for 83 evenings in a row. All of those are habits I've been trying to form for years. :)

chercard said...

Way to go Wendi! I am especially impressed with the temple attendance! I wish I had that record!!

Sarah said...

Hmmm.....I think I am good at enjoying my kids. Not so good at a number other things, but really try not to dwell on them. I also think I am pretty good at not comparing myself to others. I admire so many qualities in other people, and strive to develop some, but realize others don't necessarily play to my strengths (like being creative!).

I think being able to run a mile is awesome!!! Much more than I can do. Not that I am comparing myself to you :)